Carrie was born on 29 Jul 1842 in Milford, New Hampshire. She was the daughter of abolitionist Dr. Calvin Cutter and Caroline Hall Cutter. [1] Carrie's mother died one month after her birth.
In the 1850 census Caroline (age 8) was in Warren, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States.[2]
Name | Sex | Age | Occupation | Birth Place |
Calvin Cutter | M | 43 | physician | New Hampshire |
Eunice Cutter | F | 30 | Massachusetts | |
Caroline Cutter | F | 8 | New Hampshire | |
Jane Strickland | F | 19 | Massachusetts |
In 1861 she graduated from Mount Holyoke College and was planning on a three-year tour and study in Europe. Then the Civil War broke out. Having been raised by a staunch abolitionist father, Carrie was anxious to serve the Union.
Early in the war, she organized ladies and societies to make bandages and provide medical supplies to hospitals. But, having often assisted her father when he visited patients, she wanted to serve as his nurse with the 21st Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry. She began repeatedly contacting the government and petitioning them to allow her to join him, and finally got approval. In February 1862, Carrie, her father and the 21st Regiment sailed to Roanoke, Virginia on the steamship "Northerner". On the ship, suffering from typhoid fever was her friend Charles Plummer Tidd (who went by assumed name of Charles Plummer) - he died 8 Feb 1862. After the battle of Roanoke Island, she went ashore to assist in caring for the wounded and sick. When the steamship set sail to New Bern, North Carolina in March, Carrie was suffering from exhaustion and typhoid fever. She died on 24 Mar 1862 at the age of 19.[3]
Congress granted permission for her to be interred with full military honors at New Bern National Cemetery, North Carolina. She was one of the first women to give her life in the Civil War and one of the first to be buried in a National Cemetery. Her name is included on the Roll of Honor in the LOC. The Roll of Honor indicates that she was betrothed to unknown soldier and was buried by his side at her request.[4] This is likely Charles Plummer Tidd.
In 1892, Clara Barton wrote a poem in honor of all the women who served in the war. Entitled The Women Who Went to the Field, part of one stanza reads:
Most sources indicate that Carrie's mother was Caroline Hall Cutter who died shortly after her birth. Eunice N. Powers is referenced in Carrie's Massachusetts Birth Record [1], however the Massachusetts Marriage Record indicates that she married Calvin on 10 Dec 1843. [6] Caroline is Carrie's mother, and Carrie was born in New Hampshire.
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“Dead in the Sands of the Sea” – The Story of Carrie Cutter, August 2nd, 2022 https://www.civilwarmed.org/carrie-cutter/